Tax Revenues Up on August Retail Sales

Retail sales in Northeast Mississippi regained some momentum in August after a lackluster July. But the numbers are hardly robust in most areas.

New state figures show taxes collected on August retail sales were up in 57 of 83 towns across the region. That’s up from 47 towns the prior month and 55 towns in the same month last year.

But only a handful of communities reported increases of more than 5 percent, the number experts often say is a sign of increased consumer spending on a local level.

Amory, Booneville, New Albany and Oxford were among the best performers. Fulton, Pontotoc and Kosciusko were among those that saw revenues decline from the previous year.

The following is a list of communities and the change from August 2011 returns:

Amory: Up 6.4%; Booneville: Up 5.1%; Corinth: Up 4.7%; New Albany: Up 5.3%; Columbus: Up .8%; Starkville: Up 1.9%; Tupelo: Up 3.7%; West Point: Up 2.9%; Oxford: Up 9%; Houston: Up 2.8%; Winona: Up 3.3%; Fulton: Down 2%; Pontotoc: Down 3.3%; Kosciusko: Down .8%.